A ''sitio'' (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

for "site") in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

is a territorial enclave that forms part of a

barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolit ...

. Typically rural, a ''sitio'''s location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own barangay if its population were high enough. ''Sitios'' are similar to ''

purok A ''purok'' ( en, district or zone) is a division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a purok often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay ...

s'', but the latter are more urban and closer to the center of the barangay, especially the

barangay hall A barangay hall is the seat of government for a barangay, the lowest elected administrative division of the Philippines, below that of a city or municipality. It serves as the office of the barangay captain and meeting place for the Sangguniang B ...

. The term is derived from the

word ''sitio'' meaning "place". During the Spanish colonial period the colonial government employed the ''

reducción Indian reductions in the Andes ( es, reducciones de indios, links=no) were settlements in the former Inca Empire created by Spanish authorities and populated by the forcible relocation of indigenous Andean populations, called "Indians" by the Spa ...

'' policy, allowing the remapping of various settlements. Several far-flung hamlets were identified, named, and organized into "sitios" so that municipalities and cities could more easily be governed through the barangay system, then known as the ''

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish word that means " quarter" or " neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial, etc.), social, a ...

'' system. A ''sitio'' does not have an independent administration; it is established purely for organizational purposes only.

References

{{Philippines-stub Subdivisions of the Philippines Barangays of the Philippines Tagalog words and phrases

See also

References